Two Food Safety and Agriculture Specialists Weigh In on How Pavo’s Blockchain Capability Could Improve the AgTech Landscape

More than ever, consumers today are concerned about food provenance and want assurances that what they put on their tables has been grown ethically, without harming the environment. Pavo is leading the way on this front.

The company is developing the very latest in AgTech innovation with their groundbreaking ecosystem that combines machine learning, blockchain technology, and their industry-proven IoT technology. The project is an SaaS management system that collects and models data. It lets growers of any crop type monitor, analyze, and optimize for specific growing conditions at any time, from anywhere in the world, via their UX friendly web- and mobile-based interfaces.

One of the platform’s benefits is its blockchain capability that can help producers meet retail demands and ensure compliance with all jurisdictional regulations, which is of interest to experts in food production and food safety.

“So much of what we look at, in terms of meeting standards, regulations in technology, even blockchain is very much consumer-driven and retailer-driven,” explains Dr. Darren Detwiler, Assistant Dean at Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies. Dr. Detwiler, who also advises industry and government agencies like the FDA and USDA on food safety and authenticity issues, points out that today’s consumer is increasingly isolated from producers.

Food can come from anywhere in the world, he notes, rather than from a farmer we know just down the road. “I think people are looking at blockchain to help provide some of the necessary technology solutions that ensure whether food safety, food quality authenticity, auditing standards, etcetera, are being met,” he says.

Blockchain ensures that documentation exists all along the supply chain, which can go a long way to giving consumers peace of mind about what they’re eating and how it was produced.

Presently, consumers rely on food labeling to get a sense of where their food comes from, but the information available is extremely limited. The very nature of blockchain, however, means that the entire life cycle of a product, from seed to shipping to warehouse handling, is visible to anyone. Its smart contract capability ensures that jurisdictional regulations are being met at every step of the process. Consumers can also verify how a product was grown, and they can even check the working conditions of farm laborers.

University of California farm advisor and pomologist David Doll agrees that blockchain technology has the ability to revolutionize the agricultural world. Doll believes this is good news for farmers of any scale, because the kind of transparency blockchain brings can put to rest negative misconceptions about modern farming practices. Mr. Doll points out that farmers tend to be ready and willing to adopt new technology if it will help them increase their yields and it makes economic sense.

“There’s a phenomenal opportunity for people to gain a better understanding of what’s going on at the farm by having better transparency all the way through the system. Farmers are very proud of what they do, and want to show that labor conditions are good, the growing conditions are positive, that they’re doing what they can to reduce pesticide use, and are applying the proper amounts of water and fertilizer. I think it will allow farmers to move a little bit from this price-taker scenario to potentially a price-maker,” concludes Mr. Doll.

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